The Distant Librarian

Web-based Information Science Education (WISE)

Thinking about where to get your library degree?
Peter Scott posts about WISE, which stands for Web-based Information Science Education.  A collaboration between 14 of America's North America's the world's (there's a school from New Zealand participating, which makes a pat coverage statement difficult!) top library schools, "the vision of this initiative is to provide a collaborative, cost-effective distance education model that will increase quality, access, and diversity of online education opportunities in Library and Information Science."

More neat quotes from the website:

The program is focused on online course sharing, pedagogy, development and course evaluation. Access to administrative, pedagogical and technical support is an integral facet of the WISE program.

Students have the opportunity to access distance education courses through WISE member schools that have met quality bar in on-line education. WISE students have access to ten times the amount of special topics and electives as compared to non-WISE schools.

And that pretty much sums up what you can learn from the website.  Not sure where your parchment will say your degree is from, nor whether that will be an ALA accredited degree, though I'd sure suspect so!  Neat idea.

CUFTS Resources Comparison Tool

The CUFTS Resources Comparison Tool is a nifty little utility that allows you to compare the contents of one database to another.  Can also limit to full text resources only, which is probably what you're really interested in comparing anyway.  The output is a simple table that first shows duplicates held by both databases, then (scroll down) titles only held in database A, then titles only held in database B.  Finally a simple tally.  For instance: 
Duplicates: 730
ABI/INFORM Global only: 617
Business Source Premier only: 1619

This tool is a byproduct of a much larger product called reSearcher that I really should write more about one day.

Spring Cleaning

Hi all - I upgraded my typepad account today in order to make two changes to the layout of the site.  This will only be of interest to those of you who actually visit the site, as opposed to those who only use the RSS.  I've always hated the fact that the template I used forced me to waste so much space on the left side of the screen.  Now I can make use of all that space.  I also hated how invisible the titles of my posts were.  Personally, I found it a little difficult to easily see where one post left off and another began.  I've played around a bit with colors and font sizes and think it looks quite a bit more clear now.  Do you agree?  Do you like?  There may be some additional tweaks to come, but those were the two biggies I wanted to address right away.

Computers in Libraries 2005 Presentations are Online

David King notes that Computers in Libraries 2005 Presentations are Online.

While I only found one presentation title that specifically spoke to DE, of course just about everything at this conference could have something to do with our little niche.  I was going to include links to the DE presentation, but the PPT really didn't offer much w/o the speaker - mostly just pictures.  The reference list provided by one of the speakers might be useful to some of you though.  (PDF)

Distance education librarians in the U.S. Arl libraries and library services provided to their distance users

Just finished a really interesting article and marked it all up in green highlighter.

Abstract: This paper examines the extent to which U.S. Association of Research Libraries (ARL) are providing services to their distance education library patrons, it reveals whether each U.S. ARL library has a designated librarian in charge of services to distance education students, and it presents the perceived challenges faced by distance education librarians.

The author excluded the 15 Canadian ARL member libraries but didn't say why - I'm going to email her to find out.  I don't want to just reproduce all the good statistics, so I guess I'll have to pick and choose some. 

• 43.5% of the responding ARL libraries don't have a distance education librarian, but they do provide library services to their distance education users.
• Only 4 librarians in the survey had no professional library experience prior to becoming a distance education librarian, and all four were hired as a full-time distance education librarian.  (does that suggest that support of distance ed is an entry-level type position, or that the younger hipper librarians are the better choices for this type of position, or something else completely - your thoughts? - PRP)
• This one really struck home with me - only 11% of the librarians have a list of all their registered distance education students.

Directly related to this last finding was the fact that many DE librarians "indicated their frustration with no knowing who their registered distance education students are...  As a result, DE librarians are unable to promote library services, do outreach services to each individual faculty members or make them aware of the resources libraries have."  Sound familiar?  :-)

Lots more in the way of interesting stats in this one - check it out.

Link: ScienceDirect - Yang, ZY. Distance education librarians in the U.S. ARL libraries and library services provided to their distance users.   The Journal of Academic Librarianship, Volume 31, Issue 2, March 2005, Pages 92-97.

Horizon Wimba Live Classroom

At the beginning of the month I posted about an online presentation called The Attributes and Experiences of Librarians Who Earned a Graduate Degree via Distance Education: Findings and Implications.  I participated in the session (well, I lurked - and I saw you too Rebecca! ;-) and while it didn't end up being of interest to me, if any of you are interested in this topic the archive is now available.  You'll need Quicktime installed to view the archived presentation.

WAG the Dog Web Localizer, by Ross Singer

Back last November when Google Scholar appeared, I wrote up a little piece about how it needed to work for the distance student, and others agreed.

Fast forward a few months, and holy cow, take a look at what Ross Singer at the Georgia Institute of Techology has built: WAG the Dog Web Localizer.  Wow!  It does take some server work on the local end, but with only a single click by the end user this thing will customize not only Google Scholar results, but database links at other institutions, and database results from sites such as Scirus -- all places your distance students are likely to find their way to w/o having visited your library to authenticate first.  As long as you can get them in the habit of clicking this one bookmarklet they'll still be shown results available from your library.  Too cool!  I have got to find someone who can help me set this up on my campus!  I'd wax on longer about this but have to run - check it out!  (Oh, and I do realize he built this a couple of months ago - that's just me being buried and not taking a look at it before now ;-))

Search Engine Chart

I hadn't seen this chart before - certainly a handy one...
Link: LibrarianInBlack: Search Engine Chart.

HALbar library toolbar

Another library toolbar for your consideration, this one specific to Firefox...

Link: Science Library Pad: HALbar library toolbar.

Why can't you pay attention anymore?

Boy Howdy!  Attention Deficit Trait.  I don't think I'm there yet, but I sure believe I could be if I'm not careful...

Particularly catchy quote:

We need to take charge of it. Right now, it's taking charge of us. We need to preserve time to stop and think.

If you don't allow yourself to stop and think, you're not getting the best of your brain. What your brain is best equipped to do is to think, to analyze, to dissect and create. And if you're simply responding to bits of stimulation, you won't ever go deep.

Link: [print version] Why can't you pay attention anymore? | CNET News.com.

Screen capture for Mac

I too have been asked by readers of this blog if I know of any Mac software that does something similar to ViewletBuilder or Captivate (rumor has it that ViewletBuilder will soon be releasing a Mac version), but I hadn't really found anything.  Today I found this list mentioned by Jean-Claude that automatically earned him a place in my aggregator :-)

screen capture for Mac

Several faculty have asked about a product like Camtasia that would work on a Mac. I have nothing to recommend from experience but here is a list. Some of these products just capture an image but several do record video and audio. If you try an evaluation version let me know how it works out. We should be able to integrate with our standard captured lecture system.

[via Drexel CoAS E-Learning]

O'Reilly and Safari Books Online Launch SafariU

I had heard about SafariU earlier this week while listening to an IT Conversations Podcast and remember thinking, "what's the big deal?"  I figured you could probably just build permanent links to various chapters in the Safari Tech Books online database, so why pay to do the same thing through another interface? 

As always, when I finally stopped to read about it and watch their tutorial I see that there's more going on here besides an easy interface.  Turns out you're actually getting hard copy books as a result, which many will prefer (though not necessarily the distance student).  You can also get online access to at least some of the content that was used in the text.  In addition, it appears that SafariU can be used by faculty who don't necessarily have access to Safari Tech Books online, though if you find out any of your faculty are considering this route you might want to sit down and cost out access to the database vs the cost per student to create these textbooks.

A neat way to create customized texts though, and copyright cleared, which is nice.  This  reminded me of Xanedu, which is another ProQuest product. 

O'Reilly and Safari Books Online Launch SafariU

[via EContent: Breaking News]

Elluminate to Support Microsoft Office Communicator

I was a little confused by this press release at first, thinking somehow MS Office was going to become integrated with Elluminate, but closer inspection revealed it to be the other way around, and it's not integrated with MS Office, but with MS Office Communicator.  Never heard of MS Office Communicator?  Me neither, and I found this link which explains that it doesn't really exist yet.  Scheduled for release the first half of 2005...  The Microsoft pages uses language that makes it very obvious this product is intended for the business market (pain points?!?), but here's what MS Office Communicator is supposed to do:

Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 is an enterprise messenger that integrates communications capabilities (including instant messaging, rich presence, PC-based voice and video, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and enterprise telephony) with productivity and other communications applications.

Definately sounds useful for distance education to me!  Something to watch for...

Elluminate to Support Microsoft Office Communicator

[via EContent: Breaking News]

The Government of Canada Announces Upcoming Amendments to the Copyright Act

Holy cow, they actually listened!  Others can fill you in much more eloquently than I (Laura J. Murray, Michael Geist) but in a nutshell Canada was contemplating changes to copyright law that would both make Canada the laughingstock of the Internet, and throw distance education back into the pre-internet dark ages as far as document delivery went.  Lots of academic institutions and individuals voiced their displeasure and it seems the government listened! 

Here are a couple of highlights pertaining to the education world:

The Government recognizes the significance of the Internet as a learning tool for teachers and students as well as a platform for creators to disseminate content. Enabling the educational use of publicly available Internet material has proven to be a complex and contentious issue, however. Soon after tabling of the bill, the Government will open consultations on this issue for additional public input and consideration.

Educational and Research Access Issues

• The current exception that permits the performance or display of copyright material for educational purposes within the classroom would be modified to enable students in remote locations to view a lecture using network technology, either live or at a more convenient time.
• Material that may be photocopied and provided to students pursuant to an educational institution's blanket licence with a collective society would be permitted to be delivered to the students electronically without additional copyright liability. Provisions in this regard would apply until such time as the collective societies' blanket licenses authorize such electronic delivery.
• In the above instances, educational institutions would be required to adopt safeguards to prevent misuse of the copyright material.
• The electronic interlibrary desktop delivery of certain copyright material, notably academic articles, directly to library patrons would be permitted, provided effective safeguards were in place to prevent misuse of the material. (YESSS! - PRP)

Link: The Government of Canada Announces Upcoming Amendments to the Copyright Act.

FreePint Newsletter 179 - Freedom of Information

A nice editorial in today's FreePint Newsletter.  Here's a snippet:

This is a great time to be working in the information industry. However it's up to us to define and shape it, through energy and willingness to share our experiences, by supporting each other and by keeping up with the latest technology. Doing these things means we put ourselves firmly at the forefront of the information revolution, and in a position to solve some of the problems it presents.

ACRL Distance Learning Section volunteer opportunities

Jack Fritts writes to the OFFCAMP List: 

I'm working on committee appointments for the term running post Annual 2005 through Annual 2007.  If you are a member of the Distance Learning Section (or want to become one) and are interested in professional service and participation, here's your chance.  There are openings on all committees.  For a list of committees and their charges, please visit our website at http://caspian.switchinc.org/~distlearn.  Please let me know if you are interested, and I will send you an appointment form.

CLA Distance Learning Interest Group

From the most recent CLA Digest comes word that the CLA Services for Distance Learning Interest Group is looking for a new convenor.   This is an exciting opportunity to work with interest group members and initiate activities in support of distance library services.  The terms of reference can be found at http://www.cla.ca/about/igroups/distance.htm.

There are a number of potential projects including a plan to revise the CLA Guidelines for Library Support of Distance and Distributed Learning in  Canada.

For further information or to volunteer as the new convenor contact: Nancy E. Black, blackn@unbc.ca or Sylvie M. Deliencourt, sdeliencourt@cla.ca

Google's Library Up and Running

Sure enough!  For fun, here's the only result for a book search on "distance education librarian"...  Seems to me I should be able to whip up a bookmarklet to search just Google Print - I'll see if I have time to play with that later today...

Slashdot | Google's Library Up and Running Anonymous Patron writes "Slashdot points out Google Print results are now beginning to appear in search results. They point out An easy way to turn up these results is to simply type "book", and then whatever you want to search for. For instance, book origin of species will turn up the full text of Charles Darwin's controversial treatise."

[via LISNews.com]

The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :

I almost know how Will feels about not being able to read books anymore, but I've been reading a few good ones lately so it's not been too hard :-)  If you follow the link to where he suggests you might see the whole PDF (you won't) you'll go to a neat page at if:book that describes what's going on here.  I found that the PDF provided by Academic Search Premier exhibits the same experiment.  If you're on a campus that subscribes to ASP, you can get the PDF here.  Host. Atlantic Monthly; Apr 2005, 295(3) p 51-?.  The PDF is in color, as it needs to be to work, so printing in b&w probably will ruin the effect.  Distance Librarianship angle?  Ummm, a possible future of printed text?  Yeah, that's it, and if you're delivering content to the desktop, you'll have to have a color scanner to deliver this type of content.

Link: Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :.

Distance Librarians needed for survey

Allyson Washburn, Distributed Learning Services Librarian at Brigham Young University writes:

Please help me by completing a short survey I'm doing on the career paths of distance education librarians.  The survey is anonymous and will take between 10 and 15 minutes to complete. I hope to present my findings at the upcoming Off-Campus Library Services Conference. To access the survey, click on the link or copy and paste the link into your browser. Survey link:  http://hbllmedia.lib.byu.edu/survey/index.php?sid=2

(I took the survey and it really was short)

RSS - Not with it yet?! (Bloglines)

A nice tutorial on basic Bloglines use made by Rich Hoeg at Honeywell with Macromedia Breeze.

RSS - Not with it yet?! (Bloglines)

Okay, if you're reading this blog, and have not started using a RSS feed reader to subscribe .... get with it!  The ability to customize searches and knowledge delivery to your own particular needs is a requirement for anyone who even remotely considers themself an "information worker".

Although I personally prefer FeedDemon for subscribing to RSS Feeds ... some of you may feel the $30 cost is too high.  Well, the Bloglines web based RSS feedreader service is free.  Here are some links to help you get started:

• Bloglines: Site | Tutorial

[via eContent]

Federated searching and why users aren’t finding/using your electronic materials

A nice rant on what's wrong with federated searching from Meredith Farkas.  Link: Federated searching and why users aren’t finding/using your electronic materials. 

She's thinking pretty much along the same lines as Marshall Breeding in his Feb 2005 Computers in Libraries piece, Plotting a new course for metasearch (direct link to Academic Search Premier).  Pretty good thinking company, Meredith!  ;-)

Advice for a Librarian

Seems the readers of this blog could probably offer a lot of ideas to Meredith...

Advice for a Librarian Meredith blogs: "I’m going to be doing a presentation on information literacy in a few weeks, and I’m planning on looking at how new technologies can be used in information literacy instruction. I was thinking of looking at screencasting/flash tutorials

[via Library Stuff]

ebrary reader now supports Firefox and Mozilla

U of C picked up a subscription to ebrary a couple of months ago and at that time the ebrary reader (necessary to actually view the books) didn't really work with Mozilla or Firefox.  It could be done, but you had to manually add something to the registry, which is not very nice to ask your patrons to do.  Just learned that they have a new version of the reader that works with the following:

Web browsers Netscape Communicator 4.x, 7.1 and above (not currently supporting Netscape 6.x or 7.0) Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x through 6.x Mozilla 1.7 and above Firefox 1.0 and above

Link: ebrary Software Download Page.

EdTechPost: Thin-Client Desktop Viewing with VNC

I played with RealVNC once and couldn't get it to work, but this sounds like a compelling reason to try again.  Scott says using TightVNC (Virtual Network Computing) "you can share a view of your desktop (and any running applications) with multiple other users simultaneously using the VNC server without your viewers having to install any software."  Doesn't quite sound like a super simple operation, but might be worth exploring a little further.  Anyone out there using VNC to share their desktop with their distance students?
Link: EdTechPost: Thin-Client Desktop Viewing with VNC.